Life, 1908-10-08 · page 11 of 24
Life — October 8, 1908 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top engraving titled "THE FIRST DECLARATION (The Origin of the Custom House Nuisance)" depicts demons or devils on a boat, apparently satirizing the origins of bureaucratic customs regulations—suggesting they have demonic origins. The main article criticizes Police Commissioner Bingham's claims that Jews commit half of New York's crimes. The text argues this statistic is inflated and unfairly blames Jewish immigrants. It notes that if Jews actually committed crimes at rates Bingham claims, they'd be "twice as criminal as the average New Yorkers" despite being "six per cent" of the population—using sarcasm to expose the commissioner's prejudiced logic. The remaining brief items are unrelated humor pieces about a dancer, a pig, and a politician named William Hearst.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE FIRST DECLARATION or THE (THE ORIGIN CUSTOM MOUSE NUISANCE) Give General Bingham What He Wants OLICE COMMISSIONER BING HAM. having withdrawn his state- ment that the Jews in New York, mostly Russian newcomers, commit half the crimes done here, the only figures left standing on the subject are those furnished by societies and persons who make a specialty of protecting the Chosen People from calumny and oppression. According to these figures the New York Jews contribute not so per ~ cent, but only 16.4 per cent. of the crimes done in New York. Since a quarter of our population is Jewish, this estimate represents that instead of being twice as criminal the average New Yorkers they are really deficient by 8 3-5 per cent. in predatory activity The effect of this news on our Jewish fellow citizens affords considerable basis for thought, and even for anxiety. They are spirited and aspiring people, and when they learn from the statistics furnished by their blood-brethren that, far from showing special talent as firebugs, fraudulent bankrupts, burglars, forgers and pickpockets, they are not even getting their fair share of the emoluments of those professions, one is loath to conjecture what the effect will be What General Bingham set out to do in his North American Review article was not to calumniate the Jews, but to make it clear that New York was infested with foreign born crimi- nals whom our native English-speaking “ cops "’ cannot catch. as The worst of them—much worse, he said, than the Jews—are about 3,000 imported jail-bird Italians, who have half a million of their countrymen here to prey upon, and do prey upon them most attentively. To catch these scoundrels of whose bomb-throwing, blackmailing and kidnapping exploits we read every day, General Bingham wants a secret service. His reasons for wanting it sounds good. Why shouldn't he have it? Wrapped Up. Good. ISS MARY GARDEN, who purposes a new Salome dance, is described in the World as “ seemingly wrapped up in her part.” Glad to hear it! Glad to be assured that any Salome dancer, present or future, is wrapped up in anything! Pigs HIS little pig (having passed the bacteriological inspec- tion) went to market, This little pig (in the absence of the proper certificate that the man who brought the animal invariably sprayed his beard) went home, This little pig (especially requiring proteids) had roast beef, This little pig (carbohydrates indicated) had none, This little pig went: “Tee, hee hee! “To be modern is such fun!" Wicked Willie Is Having Fun WwW = congratulate Mr. William Hearst on the great record he is making as the Bad Boy in politics. He heaves bricks and mud with signal energy, and the bricks hit, and the mud sticks. Nobody is getting so much entertainment out of the campaign as he is.